Worker Retraining and BFET with Brandi Johnson
[Music]
Matt: Welcome to Bellingham Technical College’s Money$marts Financial Wellness Podcast. I’m your host, Matt Benoit. Each episode we’ll be talking with BTC students, staff, community professionals and financial experts about literacy and wellness in order to help listeners navigate resources in the community and empower themselves financially. Today, I am here with Brandi Johnson. How are you doing?
Brandi: Oh, I’m doing great, Matt. How are you?
Matt: I’m doing very well. So, first off, what program are you in here at BTC?
Brandi: I finally got into the Radiological Technologies program. They call us the Rad Techs, it’s a lot easier to say because it’s pretty mouth full. But, for everyone else, it’s those people in the doctor’s office and stuff that take your X-Rays. That’s us. 
Matt: Okay. And ‘rad tech’ does sound pretty cool. I mean, it sounds rad! So, what motivated you to pursue that?
Brandi: At the time, I was just searching for a career in the health field and I’ve been in so many dead-end jobs that I decided that I really needed change. I need something that can actually give me a career.
So yeah, I just looked around and I was reading the description on this one and it just kind of clicked with me. You’re not stuck in a little box all day long, you get to walk around, you get to move, you get to interact with people and that’s what I love. And I just found out more about it, that it’s kind of a gateway to so many other things in the hospital.
Matt: Awesome. Now, I want to talk a little bit about the college funding resources that you personally have now. You filled out the FAFSA, what did you awards look like? Did you receive Pell Grants? Were you eligible for student loans? What did your financial aid package look like? 
Brandi: [Laughs] Pretty dismal to start off with! I filled out the FAFSA and I’m married so they expect my spouse to contribute quite a lot and it’s really crazy because it would be like half of our income and half of our income goes to our house payment! So, don’t quite get how that’s going to work. But, as I’ve already graduated from Western [Washington University] with a degree, I am ineligible for grants. So, there goes another form of financial aid and I was literally just at a loss of what to do and I got the call from our program advisor saying “Hey, you got into the program” and about two weeks later, I lost my job!
Matt: Oh man.
Brandi: Yeah, yeah. Fate loves me! [Laughs] So, yeah, and from there and I was like “Oh, great what am I going to do.” So, I started emailing – I think I started with Financial Aid and they were like “no, you want to go talk to WorkForce” and they kind of steered me in the right direction. And then I found out about all these other programs that could help me out with just at least starting up. And I even got myself a scholarship.
Matt: So, you mentioned WorkForce. You’re a part of several WorkForce funding programs, tell me a little bit about those.
Brandi: The one that I am a part of for mostly is the Worker Retraining, since I mentioned that I’d lost my job right after I got the acceptance into the program. I worked with a gal named Kori in the WorkForce Funding office and she steered me down the right roads. But, this program really helped me because I used to work at a fishery, I processed fish. Wonderful smelling!  
Matt: Oh, yeah.
Brandi: Oh, it was wonderful. And it’s a low demand job and she [Kori] was going through the computer showing me, you know, this is what your job would be classified as and currently it’s in low demand. And it was like “Well, what job do you want to go to?” and I was like “Well, I just got accepted into the Rad Tech program”, and so we looked that one up and high demand! And it’s a bridge program to help you, you know, it’s all the sudden you lose your job, it happens, it’s life. And they’re trying to shuffle people from something low in demand like that to something high in demand is what they want to do. And most of the time a lot of us aren’t even prepared for that to happen and there’s no way that you’d be like “Oh yeah, I’m going to start this program.” If I had to shell out-of-pocket it would have been close to two or three grand just to start this quarter up and they give you the funding to get that done. They helped with my tuition and then they helped pay for all sorts of like my books and I would have been in the hole if it wasn’t for that!
Matt: That’s excellent! For those who don’t know, WorkForce Funding is a department here at BTC, like Brandi just alluded to, help students access funding through the department of Social and Health Services, of course, better knowns as DSHS. There’s a lot of different programs. We’re focusing on just a couple. One of those, of course, is Worker Retraining. And that helps unemployed workers update skills and learn new in demand skills that can lead to high wage high demand jobs. And if you’re eligible you could also qualify for short term financial support through this grant which is state funded. you can be eligible for Worker Retraining if you’ve been laid off, if you’re eligible for unemployment benefits, if you’ve exhausted unemployment benefits for the last four years, your self-employed but your business closed due to economic problems, also if you got out of the armed forces within the last four years, or you’re active duty military and you’ve received separation papers from the military, and finally, if you were disconnected from your main source of income meaning your dependent on someone else’s income but due to divorce, death, or maybe your partner becomes unemployed, you also qualify.
Matt: You mentioned, Kori who you worked with here at BTC, Kori Olsen, now you – is that mainly how you found out about all of these programs? 
Brandi: Yeah, she’s kind of like the gateway person. I got on the BTC website and started look at this and like I believe it’s her contact info is the one first listed and I was like “okay, let’s do this!” So, I just sent her an email and things went from there. 
Matt: And she told you what you qualified for and how you could apply for it and then just went through the whole process.
Brandi: For the most part, yeah. She explained what’s going to happen, what’s going on, you know, these are some of your options. Just to figure it all out and it was a slower process for me, it took me a couple of months because we were still getting information from my FAFSA back, we had to still get some forms, we had to figure out the whole unemployment going on. Because I just started getting it and I think I started working with her two weeks afterwards. So, we had to give it a little bit of time [6:16] and we had to sneak stuff in there [6:17] because they do have deadlines and I was just under that deadline getting all those paperwork in for when my program started.
Matt: So, another program that we want to talk about is BFET which stands for Basic Food Employment and Training and that helps eligible students access education, again that can lead to better jobs, so if you’re getting those federal basic food benefits, that’s a qualification for possibly getting into BFET. How have you benefitted from BFET?
Brandi: They have helped out too. They’ve kind of picked up the tab where my Worker Retraining stopped. If I didn’t have Worker Retraining, BFET would be extremely great because they… I’ve got food stamps, I had food stamps, I’m actually losing my food stamps at the end of the month and I’m so bummed out. [Laughs] But with them just, I think that’s the most qualifying thing. They told me “Hey, you know, this is another program you might want to look at since you’re unemployed. Go ahead and fill it all out and see what happens.” And that’s exactly what I did and I, 15 bucks but it’s enough to get me into the BFET program. You know, $5 can get you in there it’s just, as long as you get those benefits and they help, you know, with the tools, they help with the books, but they also have a couple other things. And they give you a bus pass. You know, for someone who - I live farther out of town so it’s not exactly the feasible thing for me but for somebody who lives closer in town and can take the bus, they’ll help you pay for that bus pass. 
Matt: You mentioned, you kind of, after losing your job, you just kind of went on the BTC website and you saw Kori’s contact info with – related to the WorkForce Funding, but yeah, how did you get started with the intake process for BFET and Worker Retraining and getting involved in these programs? What’s your advice to people who are listening?
Brandi: Questions! Get them answered! Find somebody who can answer them! If you’re not sure, send the email or make that phone call first and you know, and odds are, if it is the right person, hey cool you get it started. If it’s not, they’re going to direct you in the right direction. I have lost my job several times from jobs shipping over-seas or something happened, downsizing, and I’ve been through the rigmarole before. Like I said, if you’re not sure, BFET has their, excuse me not BFET, the Food Stamps – you can go apply online, you can go down to the office, I like online because you’re not waiting in an office for four hours, waiting for your caseworker to get to you. It gets like, you’ve got to bring a book there. I’ve been there so many times, bring a book! But like I said, if you’re not sure, fill it out! Nothing’s going to happen if you fill it out and they tell you know, that’s the worst that’s going to happen. You took 20 minutes of your day, you filled it out, they said no. Like, if you filled it out and said “hey you get five bucks” that can lead to another gate being open and you can go through that gate and get help.
Matt: And how much paperwork is involved to get basic food benefits which could lead to involvement in the BFET program?
Brandi: The BFET one, it’s the basic information. You know, like your mailing address, how much do you make, what are your bills, where is your money going? That’s pretty much the summary of all the questions that they have.
Matt: Is there a website that, or a place you can go to to check if you’re eligible for those benefits?
Brandi: Yeah, me, myself,  love Google so I Googled it. And you get all sorts of stuff back but their website is Washingtonconnection.org. And that one will take you right there. So yeah, definitely go to that Washingtonconnection.org
Matt: So, my understanding is that as long as you are eligible for food benefits and you apply for them, even if your award, and there are people who get reward benefits, where you get the piece of paper and it says you are eligible for zero dollars or some ridiculously small amount, five or ten dollars, whatever that amount is, as long as you get that piece of paper, if you have applied and you are eligible to do so, that also qualifies you for BFET. 
Brandi: I guess, even if you get that and it says “hey you have been approved”, as long as you got that approval you can go in there and try out for that BFET program and you’re probably going to get help with that because you’ve been approved. 
Matt: So, that’s just a good reminder that if, even if you are eligible and apply for one program and those benefits don’t meet your expectations and that’s a disappointment, just because you’re eligible for one thing means you’re likely eligible for other things that can help you. And so, it’s a reminder that even if you don’t think you get benefits from something, if you can apply, might as well.
Brandi: Yeah, take that time. Definitely do it. You never know what’s going to happen!
Matt: What are some of your future goals as far as you’ve gotten all this assistance to help you get to where you are now, what are your goals moving forward in your life?
Brandi: To make it to the next day. [Laughs] That’s my short term goal. Just waking up the next day and actually making it through the tests. My long-term goal is to graduate. I want – I would like to be like one of the top people in my class but this is… some of this stuff is kinda hard and I’ve been out of school for so long. It’s like ok, I want to just graduate and have at least one job offer when I graduate and get out that door and have one place I want to work.
Matt: Overall, how do you feel, obviously when you’re not sure where you’re going to get money from and you’re able to get the funding necessary to do what you need to do that’s obviously a huge blessing. How have these programs helped overall with your college experience here at BTC?
Brandi: Getting help from them was just amazing. I, I have been doing this on my own before. I’ve got student loans before but just having that support network there. The stress level comes down just like, crazy down, and I don’t have to worry about it anymore. And it’s just amazing. 
Matt: Well, Brandi, thank you so much for being here. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope that our listeners get something out of it. And just a reminder that WorkForce Funding is located on the BTC campus in the college services building room 102. Students can stop in or visit the WorkForce Funding page on the BTC website. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Money$marts Podcast be sure to check out all our episodes on the BTC website. They’re loaded with stories, tips, tricks and strategies for financial literacy. This podcast is produced by Cheryl Kennedy with music courtesy of Bensounds.com. I’m Matt Benoit, see you next time.